In this case, comparing fast is like sitting in the stands at the Indy 500 and worrying which car is the fastest. All are fast. One is fastest.

Together these two junior speedy and elusive running backs have added a twist to the 2009 high school football season. In a time where spread offenses and throwing quarterbacks rule Friday Night Lights, Hicks and Everhart have made the run cool again out of the Palo Duro Wing-T.

That is, cool if you are their coaches or teammates.

These best friends who first met running track against each other in middle school - Hicks at Sam Houston, Everhart at de Zavala - have become double trouble lighting up opposing defenses, each eclipsing the 1,000-yard rushing mark during their 10-game regular season.

"I can't recall a time where I have had two backs go over 1,000 yards in 10 games," said Palo Duro head coach Steve Parr, who has been coaching more than 25 years.

Despite being slowed for three games with nagging injuries, the 5-foot-11, 160-pound faster Everhart has run for 1,123 yards and scored 10 touchdowns.

The 6-0, 180-pound fast Hicks has put together five consecutive 200-plus rushing games and totaled 1,698 yards. He has scored 21 touchdowns and, on 170 carries, nearly averages a first down every time he touches the ball, at 9.99 yards.

"Ty and Denzel are good leaders, very good students and great young men," Parr said of his 1-2 running punch which will be on display Saturday in a Class 4A bidistrict game against Frenship. "They give us so much diverse stuff. Ty is so good running inside and he can weave in and out of traffic so well at full speed. Then Denzel has great speed. He's not real big but he has great leg strength and is able to bounce off stuff. I have so much respect for them."

When Palo Duro's season opened back in August, Hicks and Everhart were unknown players with only junior varsity experience. Even they weren't sure what to expect having heard about the speed of the varsity game.

After one game, a 37-34 overtime win against Tascosa, Everhart felt at home.

"My confidence came right away in game one," Everhart said. "Everybody talks how much the speed of the game is so much faster from JV to varsity. I thought it would take me time to adjust. It didn't."

After game five, a PD 24-21 win over Plainview, Hicks joined Everhart in the comfort zone.

"Once I adjusted to how fast it was on varsity," Hicks said, "I was able to get on a roll."

After six games, Hicks and Everhart were no longer a secret but the answer to a question the entire state would be interested to know. Have two backs on the same team in the same game ever rushed for more than 300 yards each?

In a wild ride of a 55-42 win over Caprock, Hicks ran for 304 yards on 19 carries and scored three touchdowns. Everhart busted loose for 318 yards on 24 carries and four touchdowns. Each back had produced more than 200 yards by halftime.

"Everybody was telling us we each had 300," Everhart said. "It didn't feel like it."

"It didn't at all," Hicks said. "It's a game we will never forget."

The pair don't have a friendly competition going on for most yards and touchdowns, each game but they do feed off each other.

"It's all about getting the W," Everhart said.

"I admit, when Denzel makes a long run then I'm thinking it's time for me to make a long run," Hicks said. "We go back and forth."

"We do go back and forth," Everhart said. "And the coaches get involved, too. After one of us makes a run they will come up to us and say, 'Now it's your turn.' We are having fun."

Parr said he obviously enjoys his backs' long touchdown runs - Everhart's longest TD scamper is 86 yards, while Hicks has a 72-yard TD to his credit. But over the course of 10 games he has become a fan for another reason.

"I think the thing they have improved the most on is doing things when they aren't carrying the ball," Parr said. "Whether it be faking, whether it be blocking or whatever, they just keep getting better and better at that and more comfortable in what we are doing. As long as we get the job done, they don't care who gets the credit. "

Hicks and Everhart said without their offensive line the yards wouldn't be near the 1,000 mark.

"You can have Barry Sanders in your backfield and it won't matter if you don't have an offensive line," Everhart said. "The holes are there."

Both can instantly tell you a run the other made during a game which impressed them. Like the time Hicks was running free down the sideline "and some dude had an angle on him and Ty just stops and the guy flew by," Everhart said. Or the time Everhart was running down the sideline "and that dude also had the angle," Hicks said. "Denzel gives a little move and the guy fell down and tried to pull his jersey."

Everhart and Hicks indeed have earned the nickname Fast and Faster.

And just what is on the mind of a fast running back who is breaking free on a long touchdown run? How will I celebrate in the end zone? What handshake do I have ready for my teammates? What will I tell the media in my interview after the game?